Alliance of Protestant Churches of Turkey

Alliance of Protestant Churches of Turkey

PREPARED BY

The Legal Committee of the

Alliance of Protestant Churches of Turkey

November 2008

TÜRKİYE PROTESTAN KİLİSELER BİRLİĞİ

(Alliance of Protestant Churches of Turkey)

THE QUESTION OF PLACES OF WORSHIP FOR THE

PROTESTANT COMMUNITY OF TURKEY

CONTENTS

Page

SUMMARY AND PROPOSALS1

INTRODUCTION2

LEGAL SITUATION 2

EXAMPLES5

CONCLUSION 6

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SUMMARY AND PROPOSALS

This report has been prepared to study the problems experienced by the Protestant community of Turkey regarding the issue of “places of worship”, to provide reliable and first hand data regarding this problem, and to offer suggestions toward solutions.

The Turkish Protestants, currently numbering around 3,000-3,500, are facing major problems regarding places of worship which constitute an important part of their religious liberty.

In 2003, within the framework of the European Union’s 6th harmonisation measures, the Public Works Statue No. 3194 was amended to read ‘places of worship’ instead of ‘mosques’, thereby aiming to meet the needs of non-Muslim citizens. However, the negative experiences of the Turkish Protestant Community in trying to acquire places of worship openly display the serious obstacles and rights violations this Community faces, and its inability to utilise its lawful rights due to the interpretation and application of these otherwise positive legal developments.

As the Protestant Churches of Turkey, we propose the following steps towards a solution:

• The rights of non-Muslim citizens need to be clearly communicated to local authorities and civil servants should receive training in these matters.
• The rules regarding places of worship need to be relaxed, especially the stipulation for a minimum area 2,500m2.
• The setting up of small places of worship should be allowed.
• The impartiality of the municipalities in allocating places of worship should be ensured.
• The historic churches in the inventory of municipalities or the Ministry of Culture, that are not in use or are being used outside their aim of religious worship ought to be opened to the use of Christian community.
• The criteria for permission from the local administrators needs to be transparent whereby it can be understood and foreseen by all.

Introduction

The root meaning of “church” comes from the Greek word “ekklesia.” This means a fellowship (community) or meeting which is independent of a specific place. The Turkish word for church, “kilise,” comes from this Greek word. However, in our country today, when the word “church” is used, it is meant or understood as referring to a classical building with a bell tower.

The history of the Protestant Community in our country does not go backvery far. When we look at recent history, during the 1970’s the small number of Protestants who furthermore lived in various cities did not experience problems regarding places of worship. They usually practiced their worship in their homes. However, the problem of places of worship began to come to the forefront as the community grew in the 1980’s. The Protestant Community did not posses historical church buildings remnant from the Ottoman period. For this reason, Protestants have generally tried to solve this problem by meeting in their own homes, or a rented or purchased facility like an office, a warehouse, or a small building. This situation not only has not met their needs but has also brought with it other legal and social problems.

Legal Situation

While the Lausanne Treaty’s does not specify the communities, The Republic of Turkey interprets the Treaty’s reference to minorities as meaning the Greeks, Armenians, and Jews. Religious communities who do not belong to one of these recognized minorities do not have a legal status. Until recent times, all non-Muslim groups, including the three recognized minorities, were not able to build new places of worship. This was because until it was changed in 2003, the Public Works Statue No. 3194 only pertained to the construction of mosques.

Appendix 2: (as of 02.08.1998, Official Gazette number 23421,law no. 4380)

In the development of zoning plans, bearing in mind the conditions of the municipality and region being planned and future needs, locations for needed mosques are to be set aside.

A mosque may be set up on condition that permission is received from the mufti of the province, sub district or town, and that the location complies with the zoning statutes.

A place set aside for a mosque may not be allocated to other ends in contradiction of the zoning statutes.

As the law clearly stated, it was impossible to establish a place of worship other than a mosque. In order to overcome this problem, Protestants would rent a facility, inform the office of the local governor, and meet for worship. The provincial government quietly accepted this situation by not giving either a positive or negative response. However by the late 1990s, along with anti-Christian rhetoric, various players knowingly began reporting in the media and in government reports about Protestant places of worship insinuating illegal activities were taking place in what they named “pirate churches”, “apartment churches” etc..

In 1999, the place of worship of an Izmir church was sealed after a police raid (re-opened 3 months later). A similar police raid was carried out a few weeks later to a church in Zeytinburnu, Istanbul. Following these, beginning in Istanbul, around 20 places of worship were issued a writ to close their premises for violating the Zoning Laws and for gathering and opening a place of worship without permission. The court appeals to stop and reverse the implementation of these orderswere turned down. As a result of various reports and the pressure from the European Union and other international organizations, the use of these places of worship was tolerated.

In 2003, within the confines of the EU.’s 6th harmonisation measures, the Public Works Statue No. 3194 was amended such that “mosque” became “place of worship” and “religious affairs” became “civilian authority.”

Appendix 2: (Amendment: 15/07/2003 – 4928 S.K. mad.)

In the development of zoning plans, the required places of worship shall be designated taking into account the conditions of the planned districts and regions and their future needs.

Provided that the permission of the highest civilian administrator is obtained and the zoning legislation is respected, places of worship can be built in the provinces, sub-provinces and towns.

Places of worship cannot be allocated for other purposes in violation of the zoning legislation.”

Even though this change appears to allow the construction of a church building, no church building has as yet been able to be built since this law came into effect. (NB: Although a slightly different situation, the Istanbul Protestant Church Foundation’s building in Altıntepe is an exception – see P.6, Specific Examples). This problem is a direct result of the law, the implementation of regulations, and the negative bias of public officials. The implementation of the regulations varies according to the municipality. For example the building regulations of the Municipality of Greater Izmir is as follows:

Religious Facilities

a) Site Allocation Criteria: Religious facilities can be built in building plots that are designated in zoning plans for religious facilities. In new development areas the building plots shall not be less than 2,500 m2.

b) Construction Criteria: Unless a clause to contrary exists in the building regulations, such zones can only be used for religious facility and their annexes. They cannot be used for other uses eg. commerce, habitation or education. In building plots that comply with the site allocation criteria, seperated buildings can be builton the condition that these are distanced at least 10.00 metres from the plot borders. The structure is allowed to cover at most 60% of the plot. The height of the building is not regulated. Facilities such as WCs and fountains can be built as part of the annexes.

c) Mosques will be built in accordance with the regulations of the Directorate of Religious Affairs.

In spite of legislation, there are large barriers to the establishing of churches for several reasons. A few of these barriers can be listed like this:

1-) The Problem of 2,500 m2: The size of the plot given by the Construction Regulations in reality make it impossible to construct a place of worship rather than make it possible. Local municipalities that have been approached by the various Protestant churches have refused to designate places of worship or have rejected the use of the current facilities of these communities on the grounds of this law. The Ödemiş Sevgi Topluluğu (Ödemish Fellowship of Love) and Samsun Agape Kilisesi (SamsunAgapeChurch) are examples of this. When one considers that the average number of members of the Protestant fellowships is 30-40, alongside the prices of property, it is clear that it is impossible for these fellowships to purchase a property the size of 2500 m2 and build upon that. Also these fellowships do not need a facility of that size.

2-) The Problem of getting permission from the Civil Administration: The Turkish Protestant Churches are not against having to get permission from the civil administration and are not against the inspection of the government. On the contrary they feel that this amendment in the law is a step forward. The main problem here is that the criteria for permission is unclear and that there is much room for arbitrary discretionary applications. The civil administration in many places believed these churches should be banned.

To give a couple of concrete examples:

The Ödemiş Sevgi Topluluğu (Ödemiş Fellowship of Love), in the Ödemiş district of the province of Izmir, with 20 or so members was banned by the local administration on 07.11.2006 from meeting as a group within the boundaries of Ödemiş. The reason stated for this was that the fellowship did not own a ‘legal place of worship’. However while administering this decision the authorities ignored the fact that they had rejected the fellowships application for a designated place or ratification of the use of their current detached place for worship. (a)

The DiyarbakırProtestantChurch in 2004 applied to the Diyarbakır Sur and Greater Municipality for the zoning status of the building they were using for worship to be changed to the status of a religious facility. In 2004 this plot’s status in the zoning plans was changed to a religious facility. However, in spite of this change the Diyarbakır Governorship has still not ratified this change to a place of worship. The reason given by them for this is that there is no precedent to such a decision. (b)

3-) The Question of Resident Congregations: In some places petitions were denied on the grounds that the area that had made the application did not have a resident Protestant population in the area. Even if at first hand this seems like a logical reason, it is clear that for a couple of reasons this is not a realistic approach. The applications were evaluated in light of neighbourhood council registrations. The Turkish Protestant congregation nationwide is estimated at 3,000-3,500. So the ratio of Turkish Protestants to the general population is one in twenty thousand. In light of this fact it is unlikely for a specific neighbourhood to be densely populated by Turkish Protestants. Even if there were significant number of Protestants living in the area many of them still have ‘Islam’ written in the religion section of their ID cards to avoid discrimination and for safety. Therefore even though someone may be a Christian he will not appear on the neighborhood registrations as one. In general members of the Community are dispersed throughout their towns and for such reasons as convenience of transport meet together at the accessible hubs of their towns.

The Ankara Presbyterian Church having chosen a site from one of the designated religious zones in their municipality applied to the AnkaraYenimahalleMunicipalityto construct a place of worship. Their application to the Ankara Governorship was rejected on the grounds that there were no registered Christians living in the district. Later with the intervention of the Ministry of Interior this part of the problem was overcome. However since the municipality has quoted exorbitant prices for the plots and has directed to ones far from the residential areas the church still has not been able to construct a building. They are currently trying to construct a place of worship on a plot they have purchased within the boundaries of the same municipality. However the municipality is standing against their applications.

Another legislation that is linked to our subject along with the Zoning Law and the Condominium Statute is the Law of Associations. In accordance with the European Union harmonisation programme, numerous positive changes have been made in the laws regarding Associations since 2002. Many obstacles that prevented the establishment and running of associations have been removed. According to law 2908 of the old Law of Associations, associations were not allowed to perform religious functions. Clause 5 of Article 5 of law 2908 stated that it was illegal for associations to function “under the distinctions of region, race, social class, religion or denomination”.

Due to these restrictions and the heavy penalties the Turkish Protestant Congregations kept clear of become associations. However for the reasons stated above, such as the difficulties of the Zoning Law, the legal problems the churches faced, the desire for a legal status and with the new Law of Associations, law 5253, which removed earlier restrictions, the churches started from 2005 onwards to take steps in the area of establishing associations. In 2005 as a test case the “Kurtuluş Kilisesi Derneği (Kurtuluş Church Association)” was established in Ankara. After this 8 more fellowships established associations. The process continues. The association are not recognized as ‘churches’ or as ‘places for worship’. However in 2005 the Minister of Justice at the time, Cemil Çiçek stated that in order to establish a church one needed to have a legally recognised status.

Before the possibility to become an Association, in 1999a church in Istanbul was able to set up as a foundation ratified in 2001 called‘Istanbul Protestan Church Foundation’. However later applications for similar foundations were refused.

For now congregations functioning as associations are not facing any major problems. However for the reasons and from the examples given below, becoming an association is also not providing a solution to the issue of places of worship.

On 26.12.2006 “Samsun Agape Kilisesi Derneği” (Samsun Agape Church Association) was inspected by the Provincial Directorate of Associations. As a result of the inspection a variety of failings were detected. On 26.03.2007 the church association was notified in writing of these failings. In summary, the association was told that there interior decorating looked too much like a church and unless adequate changes were made within 30 days legal procedures would be taken against the association. (c)

The Ankara Governorship opened a court case against the Ankara Kurtuluş Church Association’s Çayyolu Representative Branch to be closed down on the grounds that it was being used as a place of worship. The court rejected the case. The governorship took the case to the Court of Appeal which also ruled against the governorship.

The two examples given above show us that civil institutions and civil servants use their discretionary powers against any establishments or attempts by Christians. Facing such difficulties while there are as yet only 9-10 associations is cause for suspicion for the future.

Specific Examples

Above we have stated the legal situation and related the current problems. In this section we will try to convey the specific conditions of various congregations.

KurtuluşChurch: This fellowship situated in Ankara functions under the Kurtuluş Kilisesi Derneği (Kurtuluş Churches Association). Their petition for a legal place to worship from the ÇankayaMunicipality was rejected.

Izmir Karataş İsevi Fellowship: This fellowship situated in Izmir applied to both the Izmir Greater Izmir Municipality and the Izmir Konak Municipality for a designated place of worship. Both applications were rejected on the grounds that suitable places were not available. In 1999 the premises they use for worship was sealed off by the Governorship but was re-opened three months later. Currently they continue to meet in the same premises as the İsevi Topluluklar Derneği (Christian Fellowships Association).

IşıkChurch: The church situated in Izmir applied to the Greater Izmir Municipality for a designated place of worship. The application weas rejected on the grounds that a suitable place were not available. At the moment because they do not have a place of their own they use another church’s facilities for their worship services. They continue their functions under the Işık Kilisesi Derneği (Lighthouse Church Association).

Manisa Yeni Doğuş Fellowship: This fellowship applied to the ManisaMunicipality for a designated place of worship. The application was rejected on the grounds that a suitable place was not available. As a result the fellowship rented a facility to continue their worship. In September 2008 the fellowship was notified by the local governorship that it would be shut down on the grounds of violating the Zoning Law.

Kuşadası Fellowship: Situated in the town of Kuşadası in the province of Aydın it is facing being shut down by the local administration for violating the Zoning Law and purported complaints.

BatıkentProtestantChurch: Situated in Ankara is facing efforts by the YenimahalleMunicipality to shut it down on the grounds that it is violating the Zoning Law and because there is a place of worship (a mosque) within 50m of the church.

IstanbulAgapeChurch: This congregation in Istanbul was notified by the governorship in 2001 that it was to be shut down on the grounds of violating the Zoning Law. They applied to court for the annulment of the charge. As a result of international pressure the fellowship continued its functions but has lost all their court cases. In 2008 the State council ruled that the Governors decision to shut down the fellowship was legal. At the moment this congregation is temporarily sharing the facilitiesof another church.

DiyarbakırProtestantChurch: The church built a new building and in 2004 applied to the Diyarbakır Governorship for the necessary permissions having received the approval of the Diyarbakır Sur and Greater Diyarbakır Municipality. The Governorship has withheld approval since 2004 on the grounds that here is no precedent to such a decision. The congregation continues to use their building.